tube gear vs solid state...cable effectiveness

I have found that my tube systems sound different with different cables. My cables cost total per system are probably 1/10 the cost of what you are using, but still I find that copper sounds different than silver, a $150 interconnect sounds different than a $20 interconnect, etc. whether it is tubes or solid state.

Rich

I agree with the other responses so far, I own primarily tube gear and find that cables are as meaningful as I imagine they could be, with any set up.
I must say that $3K is not "semi" high end thats a lot for a cable. I know there are some that sell for more but still my most expensive cable may be a $1K IC by Cardas, which I bought used for much less.

Yes, cables remain very important with both SS and Tubes. With tubes though, alot of the annoyances involved with HiFi seem to disappear or at least diminish. Things like only sounding good at 3:00 in the morning, or when the fridge is off. Or sounding bad for days after vacuuming (I'm not kidding)or when computers are running. Tubes can sound so right and likable that these problems vanish or become unimportant. I suspect cables may be less of a "Life or death" decision for good sound with Tubes, but you will still need to tune the system with the proper sympathetic cable choices till you get it just right. Possibly not the same choices that worked with your SS system, but I wouldn't dump your cables till you at least try them with a new setup.

"... cables make more of a difference on solid state and are not as effective on tube gear."

Ridiculous in my experience.

sub $3k for cable? cable may make a difference on both designs again depending on design, but it has nothing to do with price. the price of cable is only for brand and not for performance. one $5000 cable may sound like cwap vs. cheap radioshack. for performance you should match it to the parameters of the component particularly output impedance characteristics. i'm wired with pro-grade cables and wires that match good my components with total price <$300 for all of them.